Winnipeg-based Pavilion Financial Corp. Friday announced the acquisition of Stratford Advisory Group, a full-service institutional investment consulting firm based in Chicago.

Terms of the transaction, which closed at the end of 2011, were not disclosed.

This is Pavilion’s second acquisition in the institutional investment advisory sector, having previously acquired Montreal-based Brockhouse & Cooper Inc.

Martin Weinberg, Pavilion’s president and CEO, notes that the Stratford acquisition is the firm’s first in the United States.

“While Brockhouse Cooper currently services institutional clients in Canada, the U.S., Japan and the United Kingdom, Stratford materially enhances our capabilities in the United States.”

“Stratford is distinguished by its proactive consulting approach with pension funds, endowments, foundations, healthcare organizations and other institutional clients in the competitive U.S. market,” Wineberg explains.

“The merged resources of our firms will significantly improve the information and advice we are able to provide clients, helping them navigate turbulent markets more effectively,” Weinberg adds.

Both Stratford and Brockhouse Cooper are expected to begin operating under the Pavilion brand and banner in the latter part of 2012.

Pavilion offers financial services and solutions such as investment consulting, implemented consulting, transition management, securities trading, research and wealth management.to institutional and high-net-worth investors in select geographical markets. Together with its subsidiaries, Pavilion has offices in key centres including Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Chicago, Boston, Johannesburg, and Capetown.